An expert bartender and mixologist has secured one of just five places in the UK Grand Final of the TGI Fridays UK Bartender Championship 2017.

Andras Kertesz, 37 from Coventry, who works at TGI Fridays in the city, has made it through to the final of the UK’s leading bartending competition.

He rose above the other competitors in the first and second rounds of championship, which took place earlier in the year.

Hundreds of bartenders entered this year’s competition, so simply progressing to the final is an incredible achievement in itself.

The previous rounds of the competition saw the bartenders put through their paces, with tasks including a 90-minute exam, where bartenders were quizzed on over 100 drinks recipes, and the history and ingredients of Fridays beer, liquor, wine and food offerings, to ensure their knowledge is second to none.

Bartenders also had to show off their skill behind the bar by free-pouring exact measures every time, creating recipes in a time limit, and performing their very own routine – including bar flair, which is the art of spinning, throwing, and doing other tricks with the bottles and glasses, whilst creating a cocktail.

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Andras is now putting the finishing touches to his routine for the final, which they have described as ‘complex, entertaining and high-octane’. The UK Final is set to take place in Birmingham on 21 November in front of a crowd of over 300 spectators, where Andras will compete for a £2,000 top prize and the legendary Fridays propeller trophy.

If Andras is victorious in the UK Final, he will head to the US to take part in the TGI Fridays World Bartender Championship where he will compete to be crowned the World’s Greatest Bartender and win a top prize of $10,000.

The World Final, which takes place in the USA in early 2018, is entered by over 10,000 bartenders from over 60 countries across the globe each year and is the pinnacle of the global competitive bartending calendar.

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Andras, commented: “I’m hugely excited about taking part in the UK final – and can’t wait to test myself against the top bartenders from across the country. I know the final is going to be a massive step up in terms of the competition, so I am practicing for several hours a day to make sure I have the best chance of winning, as competing in the world final would be a dream come true.”